


coniectura duplici

by hwnghynjn



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, Dark, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, as i gather my thoughts, but anyway, but this is in no way gothic writing, changlix, don't worry jeongin gets love too, don't worry this isn't angst, im back, im not deep enough for that!!, ive been reading a lot of regional gothic writing recently, magical! stray kids au, maybe a little, minsung - Freeform, okay enough rambling enjoy!!, or well, seungjin - Freeform, so this writing style is my own take on that, stray kids - Freeform, this is a sporadic decision, witch! au, woochan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-19 21:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16542272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hwnghynjn/pseuds/hwnghynjn
Summary: don't double guess the seasons.it's how they get you.alternatively: magic and stray kids go hand in hand in this one.





	1. call me friend but keep me closer

**Author's Note:**

> think of this like a piece of cake
> 
> made from eggs, angst, fluff, confusion, magic and disgustingly sweet moments, then baked at a heat of i-dont-know-where-the-fuck-this-is-going for im-writing-this-at-3am minutes, and then iced with my projection onto my babies, topped with a healthy dollop of mildly dark themes.
> 
> then pass it to changbin and have him drop it on the floor
> 
> that's it that's the fic
> 
> these chapters won't really be very cohesive, but i'll make it make more sense along the way :)
> 
> love y'all! have fun on this rollercoaster!!

the wind is cold.

 

jisung hasn't seen the whole sun in awhile. he wonders when he ever will. 

 

the streets are busy with cars, but it's too silent. he hears a distant honk and the crackle of leaves under his shoes.

 

pulling up his collar, he walks faster.

 

he glances to the right, and for a split second he sees nothing behind the window of the red car next to him. he blinks, and the driver is back.

 

this time there's nothing behind his eyes.

 

jisung looks back in front and walks faster.

 

-

 

hyunjin, the smoke witch with hair like soot and eyes like embers. jisung spares him a second glance as he walks in through their front door and closes it behind him.

 

something is different about him today.

 

"are you okay? you look like you've seen a ghost." the taller jokes, and they both laugh it off.

 

better not to risk it.

 

inside it's warm. the fire is burning tall and bright despite not being fed, and jisung is sure that it's felix's doing.

 

the bookcase is teetering with books, all minho's and seungmin's. 

 

there's an underlying fear that he knows minho has that one day he'll wake up and he'll no longer understand them anymore.

 

jisung always reassures him, but every once in a while he sneaks a glance at the words to make sure they don't change.

 

hyunjin goes back to watching whatever's on tv. it's always the same reruns out here. jisung used to ask hyunjin what he was watching, but he doesn't anymore.

 

seungmin enters the room, his jacket too thin to block out the wind jisung knows is out there. everything is too thin to block out the wind that's out there.

 

when the redhead goes over to the bookshelf, hyunjin wraps his arms around his waist and settles his chin on the other's shoulder lazily, looking for all the world like a clingy puppy. 

 

"you're heavy." seungmin whines, and hyunjin just hugs him tighter, giggling. "you love me."

 

seungmin half-heartedly swats at him and brings his book to the sofa, where hyunjin drags him onto his lap.

 

jisung is happy that they've finally accepted that they're both way too obsessed with each other to successfully date anyone else. he remembers that girl from school that hyunjin went out with for three weeks. 

 

they'd never seen a summer storm that bad in eight years. seungmin pretended everything was fine when they asked him but his eyes glowed a dull red and the bushes seemed to wilt when he walked past them.

 

when seungmin had stormed up the stairs and slammed the door to hyunjin's room behind him, the seven of them downstairs had looked at each other.

 

"there's a storm on the way." chan had stated offhandedly. for once, everyone knew what that meant.

 

(except when they both came out an hour later, seungmin's cheeks pink and his cherry hair decidedly ruffled, hyunjin's eyes sparking indigo and unable to keep a smile off his face, the skies happened to clear and the two of them couldn't really look the others in the eye for awhile.)

-

jisung makes his way up to his room, and minho's lazing on his bed, a book in front of him.

 

wordlessly, he drops onto the bed next to the elder. minho smells like violets and gardenias and chamomile, and as he buries his nose in the elder's shoulder, he smiles and ruffles jisung's windswept hair.

 

"how's those extra classes been?" he asks, his voice warm. the healing in his nature also tinges his voice with a hint of a calming effect, and it spikes jisung's energy a little bit in all the right ways.

 

"it's alright."  _i saw something on the way home._ the words don't leave his mouth. they're not words meant for now.

 

maybe another time.

 

when minho falls asleep, jisung pulls the blanket over the both of them and closes his eyes.

 

he tries to ignore the cold he knows is outside. is that the windowpane rattling he hears? 

 

he's not sure, but he doesn't want to find out.

 

the wind is cold.


	2. there's always time for second guesses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the town is shifting, slowly but surely.
> 
> chan isn't sure if it's for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> been a writing mood lately, so enjoy my word vomit.

seungmin has a nightmare.

 

he's suspended in something black, and there's nothing for miles all around him.

 

he feels weightless.

 

he tries to move, but it's as if he's underwater. his movements are sluggish, slow, restrained. 

 

 _seungmin._ he hears a voice, and it's muffled, but he's sure that's hyunjin.

 

 _seungmin, come back._ that sounded like chan-hyung. where was seungmin? why couldn't he see them?

 

he tries to call out to them, but it feels like there's something holding his tongue.

 

 _minnie, please._ why is hyunjin sobbing?

 

seungmin tries to move. he can't.

 

he opens his mouth and the darkness rushes in.

 

_seungmin!_

 

he wakes up in a cold sweat next to hyunjin. 

 

the cold sunlight reaches its fingers between the curtains and speads them over the floorboards. it's only 8 a.m, but seungmin is exhausted.

 

ignoring his stomach's call of hunger, he lies back down and tries to go back to sleep.

 

-

"chan! where're you going?" 

 

chan turns, and he smiles at woojin. 

 

"i wanted to check out the train station. something's been nagging at me about that place for awhile now, and i just wanted to check it out."

 

"count me in." woojin says, and he grabs his coat as chan ties his shoelaces.

 

the walk there is comfortably silent. the two of them have been close for so long that they don't need words to communicate. woojin basks in chan's understanding and his casual affection. chan enjoys woojin's kindness, the ease with which they get each other.

 

yet neither of them know where they're standing now; balancing between the thin line of best friends and something more. something that allows warm hugs, and hand-holding, but no goodnight or good morning kisses or sharing beds.

 

maybe one day they'll finally address it. but today is not that day.

 

"what did you feel was off about the train station?" woojin asks. the air is crisp. there's no one else on the road- just the two of them.

 

(they still feel eyes on them.)

 

"i don't know. it's been seeming off for awhile now." chan looks down at his shoes as he walks over a crack in the pavement.

 

they arrive at the train station after awhile. for a minute there it seemed like it got further away the closer they got, but here they were, looking up at the cold concrete and metal of the station.

 

chan steps in first. 

 

it's deserted. empty, except for the worker behind the desk.

 

woojin studies the noticeboard with the train times.

 

_platform 1- from. 10:00 a.m, 12:00 p.m, 2:00 p.m, 4:00 p.m, 6:00 p.m, 8:00 p.m._

 

_from? from where?_

 

his eyes move downwards to the second line of text.

 

_platform 2- to. 24_

 

_24?_

 

he shudders, and turns away.

 

chan is looking around at the tall ceilings, the pillars holding them up. 

 

nothing seems out of the ordinary, but he doesn't buy it.

 

"woojin? you see anything?" chan calls, and woojin gestures to the noticeboard.

 

"full of times for platform 1. only a number for platform 2. but i don't understand their destination."

 

"from? and to?" chan frowns. "from where? and where to?"

 

"that's what we need to find out."

 

as they leave, chan shivers at the silence of the station. 

 

it was formidable, modern, frankly a contrast with the rest of the sleepy, sepia-hued town.

 

it was a train station. that much was obvious. but what was a train station in a town where no one was supposed to leave?

 


	3. paled city lights; a chilling voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a flashback. jisung goes back to the first time he found minho- or rather, when minho found him.
> 
> jeongin feels like something is off.
> 
> chan knows something is off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my brain was in OVERDRIVE and i was about to graduate in 16 and a half hours so i was going to try to put my thoughts into words.
> 
> enjoy this word vomit pt 2

_jisung's not sure where he's walking, but he doesn't think it's the right way home._

_whatever. it'd been a long time coming._

_he finds a convenience store to duck into from the rain and uses the two dollars he has in his pocket to buy a can of some kind of coffee._

_outside, under the frugal shade of the extendable roof of the store, jisung squats as he takes a sip of his coffee._

 

_he doesn't really taste it- it's not so much that it's bad coffee, more like jisung's tongue is cold from the freezing rain that's steadily growing colder._

 

_it would be nice to be a spring witch, or at least something to do with heat. then he wouldn't feel small and cold under the tarp of the roof, which is barely doing anything as the rain gets heavier, and his hands wouldn't be shivering around his can of now-colder coffee-_

 

_"hey."_

 

_he looks up._

 

_a male figure, drenched to the bone, his dark, wet hair falling over his eyes that seem to glint even in the ink darkness, broken only by the orange glow of streetlamps. he's smiling down at jisung and he feels like his hands momentarily unfreeze for a bit._

 

_"isn't it cold out?" he says, taking a tentative seat- or rather, a squat - next to jisung. jisung just nods and takes another sip of his coffee, stealing glances at the stranger out of the corner of his eye._

 

_it might be his eyes playing tricks on him, but his hair seems to be drying itself- little wisps of water vapour lift from the stranger's hair as he watches._

 

_maybe a summer witch? he contemplated. by virtue of whatever magic he harnessed, the other boy was practically dry by now. he shakes his hair and then turns and looks straight at jisung, who kind of maybe gets a heart attack from that._

 

_"why're you out here in the rain?" when his question barely gets a shrug, the other boy rolls his eyes, which jisung would later come to learn was in good nature._

 

_"what's your name?"  he asks instead, and this time jisung looks at him, vaguely nonchalant except for the green glimmering in his irises._

_"names are dangerous." he supplies, and the other boy hums in agreement. "i'd tell you my name, if you let me hold your hand."_

 

_"that's an awful pick-up line." jisung finally smiles, but it's still tentative and he swallows it back after seeing the entirely serious look on the other boy's face._

 

_internally he says "fuck it" and stretches out his hand. the other boy smiles and takes it in his own, and for a few seconds jisung feels a warm, comforting tingle spread through his fingertips and into his arm, following a whisper of "lee minho" into his mind._

 

_"never know what could be out here at this hour." minho gets up and brushes off his pants. he smiles at jisung before turning to leave, but first he says something with all the severity of a death warning, but still with that smile on his face._

 

_"you shouldn't stay out here for too long, volanteau. there've been things happening lately that i wouldn't want you to become a part of." and with that, he turns and leaves, the rain appearing to slide off an invisible haze around him._

 

_jisung finishes his coffee, steps on the can, throws it in the trash and walks off in the other direction._

 

_-_

 

somewhere along the coastline, jeongin sits on the dew-damp grass of a cliff overlooking the stormy waves. his hair is slightly tousled from the salt in the air and the coarse wind and his cold fingers are bundled tightly in the lapels of the oversized denim jacket that isn't even his.

 

(it's hyunjin's, but he probably wouldn't notice that any time soon.)

 

there's something changing on the horizon, but jeongin isn't sure what. being an aether witch means he senses whenever something goes awry or even slightly off-track- like when there was a winter drake right off the coast who got stranded while migrating, and they got stuck with 20°C weather in july.

 

he hasn't felt this wary in years. it's unsettling. 

 

he turns when he feels a draft next to him, but there's nothing there.

 

he makes a mental note to tell chan-hyung when he gets home.

 

-

 

chan has an unusual secondary. all of them know it, but they've never addressed it. there was never a need to.

 

being a heart witch, chan had even more of an emotional connection with them than normal. when any of them got hurt, he'd feel it subtly inside his chest. when any of them got mad, he'd feel irritable, and when any of them felt fear, he'd feel unsettled.

 

sometimes it got hard to differentiate his own feelings from theirs.

 

but when it came to moments like today - it was something he hated. when all he felt was vagueness and uncertainty from the members he felt the strongest connections with- woojin, jeongin and felix. 

 

woojin, being a celestial sound witch, and jeongin as an aether witch gave them ample reason to feel a little more wary, simply because they had the most connection to the otherworldly and the unknown. but he always felt more alert whenever felix felt on edge, simply because his connection to their surroundings was much more intimate- much more close to home, literally and figuratively. 

 

so when felix thought there was a possibility of danger around them, he usually wasn't that far off. 

 

lurking creatures. deeper shadows. flashes of movement where no one was supposed to be able to reach. 

 

maybe one day he'd learn to treat these all as minor inconveniences. but recently, all they'd done was keep him up at night.

 

that and the red flashes that appear sometimes at the top of the mountains, visible outside his bedroom window. 


End file.
